Come 2013, Wikipedia will start talking

MUMBAI: Popular community encyclopedia Wikipedia will launch oral features by way of aspeak button which could take its information to a wider range of persons. The new features may be unveiled at a Wikipedia summit being hosted by India for the first time, next year. '

"We realized that literacy in India is low and technology was proving to be a barrier," said Abhishek Suryawanshi of Wikipedia Club India, which will host the summit in Pune, explaining the idea behind Spoken Wikipedia . The group will provide the new oral features in English and 18 Indian languages. They also plan to tie up with cellphone operators so that audio files connected to Wiki can also be circulated freely via mobiles as India has a higher teledensity than internet.

US consul-general Peter Haas, who kicked off an introductory session to the summit on Monday, welcomed the move as being particularly beneficial to disabled persons, especially since it coincided with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. "Wikipedia is transparent , collaborative and provides information in an objective and non-biased wayfeatures essential for an open society," he said.